Various examples of personalized children's books exist. Some children's books can include personalized text and/or graphics. In one specific example, a purchaser wishing to order a book can fill out and mail to the publisher a personalization form that is filled out with factual data. In accordance with the supplied data, the text is personalized to feature the child as a character in a story and individual physical characteristics of the selected child are superimposed onto a pre-printed, relatively generic, background of illustrations. In this example, a laser printer is used to overprint the personalization over preprinted background pages. Books produced under such a system may include personalization features such as a name in text, and certain other basic features in the overprinted graphics (i.e., skin tone and hair color).
In another specific example of a previous children's book, a completely pre-bound blank board book is utilized with personalized stickers that are printed and affixed to the pages of the board book. The book is printed and bound by the publisher using standard publishing methods, except that blank areas are left in specific locations on the inside pages. The purchaser buys the partially blank book. A personalization form included with the book is then filled out and the data is sent to the publisher. The publisher prints personalized stickers and mails them to the purchaser. The purchaser inserts the stickers into the appropriate blank spaces in the book. The storyline text in these books is personalized to a small degree, but the illustrations are not personalized.
In still another example, a software program containing a generic story is loaded into a computer at the point of sale. Personalized data from a customer is entered into the program and merged into the story. The personalized story text is printed onto blank areas on sheets of paper that have preprinted illustrations covering one side and partially covering the other side. The finished sheets are assembled and bound with the cover. In this example, some personalization of the generic storyline text is provided, but no personalization of the illustrations or of the cover are provided.
Various previous personalized children's books and/or kits for making personalized children's books include little creative content and input by the customer who wishes to obtain the book. For instance, previous books have focused on developing stories that are pre-written (e.g., the storyline is pre-set) with a few pieces of information provided by the customer that are inserted into the pre-set storyline. As such, little creative input of the customer is included in the book.
Also, various previous personalized books include little or no actual creative input provided by the subject of the book (i.e., the child). For instance, the child may become part of pre-written story as a character, but the book is not written by, or focused on, the child. As such, various previous approaches do not serve as a way of recording the way that a particular child thinks at a particular stage in that child's life. Moreover, various previous personalized books do not use illustrations drawn by the child, such that the books do not serve as a way of recording how the child draws at the particular stage in the child's life. Furthermore, various previous approaches can be relatively impersonal in that they do not involve interaction between an adult (i.e., a parent, guardian, or teacher, for instance) and a child in obtaining creative content to be used in the book.